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What's the most overrated or overpriced piece of equipment you own, have owned or come by?

This hobby of ours is extremely rewarding, but can also be very expensive. I don't mind paying the big bucks (if I can afford it) for better sound. But many companies out there take advantage of us poor bastards and sell us snake oil equipment at exorbitant prices. Well...This is your chance to share with other Audiogonners.

This is your chance to GET EVEN :-)
mozart4040
tubes444
91 posts
 

That's easy!!

  Me X wife. She was full IM distortion!

                    Here tubes were always out of bias!

                    Her capacitors were of the wrong values!

                   I put her in Audiogon for sale!

                   All inquires wanted money guarantee! Before giving there PAYPAL#

Lesson learned. Always do your home work before adding

                           new gear. Lest you get-it in the REAR!!

tubes444

abnerjack
162 posts
 
tubes444,
You win the best in thread prize!  Regarding the ex, did you get her new or used?
zydecosamtubes's avatar
zydecosamtubes
2 posts
 
  In early 1983 I bought my first cd player, a Fisher that my home furnishing friend from down the street was all excited about. I brought it home, hooked it up, and slipped in my very first purchesed cd. What I got was a loude harsh static noise, and green light flooding out from the place that I had just inserted my cd.I took it back to the store, and they wanted to send it off some place to get it repaired. They were also quite unhappy with me when I stated that after only having the unit for less than an hour, I should unreasonably demand a full refund....I got my money back and then bought a Sony.

wwaterman2's avatar
wwaterman2
26 posts
 
I know Bose still is kinda funny but they did make the 901 series speakers! Old school but not bad!

hddg's avatar
hddg
123 posts
 
in my opinion, most very expensive audio stuff are highly overpriced. Cables are the most flagrant of all. The manufacturers play on a psychological level towards very high end customers who can afford it, and on the fact that it is a passion and that with passion you can spend a lot irrationally and without really counting your expenses.
And often the passionate customer thinks all needs to be hyper priced to be very good. It is difficult to reason with passion. I have heard system sounding 10 times better while costing ten times less than other hyped systems.
One other thing is that audio reviews get everyone confused, and are not much help in the end. Everything they review tends to be good or very good. Never seen a review say "this is crap". They go about their little literature, using repetitive audio terms, with some humor, comparisons have no real common base and industry approved way of rating, and they all end up by "recommended" or "highly recommended".
If one is to make up a good system, he better be able to assess for himself and/or hear it first. Hearing and tasting sound is another education, and you can get very high without hyper stuff.
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